Box-fastener



(No Model.)

0. & E. H. MORGAN.

BOX FASTENBR. No. 388,992. Patented Sept, 4, 1888.

l V B j UNTTEn STnTEs PATENT @EEITEE.

CHARLES MORGAN AND EDGAR H. ll'iORGAN, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS.

BOX-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,992, dated Eepternber a, 1888.

(X0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES ll'IORGAN and EDGAR H. llIORG-AN, residents of Freeport, in the county of Stephenson and State of Eli nois have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Box-Fasteners; and we do here by declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

Our device is intended to secure covers upon shipping and other boxes in such manner that they cannot be opened without breaking a seal employed with other devices, and to accomplish this by means such that a simple locking movement shall first secure the cover against opening and then draw it firmly down into position.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the cover and the upper portion of a box having our catch in looking position. Fig. 2 is a section parallel to the first, but passing through the middle of the catch. Fig. 3 shows the catch or lock seen from below. Figs. 4:

U and 5 are sections similar to those illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, showing, respectively, the cover closed and the cover open, with the chains which prevent its removal from the box.

A A are the sides, and B B narrow strips, which, with the cover 0, form the top of the box. The strips B are firmly and permanently secured upon the box, and the cleats D, projecting beyond the edge of the cover, to which alone they are fastened, pass under one of the v strips,while the catclnwhen in position to lock the box,passcs beneath the other and is raised and pressed firmly against its lower surface. In place of hinges, chains S, secured by staples or other suitable devices to both cover and box, permit opening, but not the entire separation of the cover. The chains may be two or more to each cover and may be of any desired length; but in putting these fastenings upon boxes for practical use we have always employed two only, putting them in the same relative position as the ordinary hinges whose ofiice they fill. As shown, they are long enough to permit the cover to lie flat against the side of the box, and so far down that the ends of the cleats D will not interfere with piling the open boxes one upon the other.

The lock consists of a tubular socket, L, permanently fastened to the cover and extending partially through it. In this socket revolves loosely a bolt, F, whose lower end works in an internally-threaded aperture in a horizontal locking-arm, The lower end of the bolt is enlarged or headed and the upper end is provided with a slotted head resting upon the upper end of the socket L. Now when the bolt F is rotated the locking-arm E, unless held, rotates with it, but if held rises or falls by the action of the thread. Stops P limit its rotation to about ninety degrees from a position parallel to the edge of the cover to a position at right angles therewith. It the bolt be rotated forward, the locking-arm is first thrown into the position last stated, E, and then by the continued rotation of the bolt is raised until its projecting end strikes the lower surface of the cleat B, or until its body meets the lower end of the socket. If the bolt be rotated backward, the bar E, as soon as released from friction with cleat or socket, is thrown to the opposite limit of its path, and by continued rotation of the bolt is depressed until it reaches the bolts enlarged lower portion, when the rotation must cease. The whole operation requires but a few turns of the bolt; hence if the box be locked the bolt is turned backward as far as it can be turncd,when the box may be opened, while if it is desired to lock the box the operation is similar, but the direction of rotation is reversed.

\Vere there no other devices than the parts thus far set forth,a thin instrument inserted at the edge of the cover might produce this rotation by pressing the bar E directly,and the box be thus unlocked. To guard against this the plate Q, formed integrally with the socket L, is provided with a projection, V, over which the bar passes when at its lowest point, but which it cannot pass when raised. It follows that if the box be properly locked it can be opened only by rotating the bolt and thus de pressing the bar. All access to the bolt is cut off by a seal pasted'over the aperture in which it lies, or byiilling the open upper part of this aperture with wax or like material. The locking-arm E must rotate with the bolt F until it meets the stops, for by turning the bolt backward the lockingarm may be made to bind with any desired degree of firmness upon the conically-enlarged end of the bolt.

ICO

Having now fully explained the constructlon and operation of our devices,we claim- 1. In box-fasteners, the combination, with a box and a cover, of a vertically-movable horizontally-revolnble locking-arm mounted upon said cover and adapted to pass by revolution into locking position beneath an overhanging portion of the box, alug or lugs fixed upon said cover above the plane of revolution of said arm, and means whereby said arm, when in looking position, may be raised into the plane of and alongside said lug or lugs, whereby the cover may be locked in position by the arm and the arm itself be secured against rotation until moved out of the plane of the lug or lugs.

2. In means for securing covers upon boxes,

the combination, with a box and its cover, of a bolt revolubly mounted upon said cover and projecting from its lower surface, a locking- 2o it is carried toward said cover, substantially 25 as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES MORGAN. EDGAR H. MORGAN.

\Vitnesses:

C. W. GRAHAM, M. STOSKOPF. 

